2020 GHSA Team Dual Wrestling State Championships

The results from the Dual Wrestling Area Tournaments set the field of teams that will be competing for the ultimate prize this weekend in Macon at the GHSA Team Duals Wrestling State Championships. A total of 50 different Area Tournaments were held across the state this past weekend, and the top two finishers from each area earned spots in the state tournament. Here’s a look back at how the Area Tournaments played out.

Five-time defending duals state champion Camden County captured the Region 1-AAAAAAA championship and Colquitt County topped Tift County 57-19 to finish runner-ups to the Wildcats. East Coweta scored a 42-30 win over Newnan for a first-place finish in Region 2-AAAAAAA and McEachern edged North Paulding for its second-straight Region 3-AAAAAAA title. Cherokee took the Region 4-AAAAAAA championship over Lassiter, West Forsyth edged North Forsyth 30-21 for the Region 5-AAAAAAA title, Collins Hill held off Mountain View for the Region 6-AAAAAAA championship. Also, Brookwood dominated rival Parkview 69-12 in Region 7-AAAAAAA’s final and Rockdale County edged Archer for the program’s third-straight Region 8-AAAAAAA championship.

Coffee and Valdosta emerged from the Region 1-AAAAAA Area Tournament, Richmond Hill scored a 39-24 win over Brunswick in the Region 2-AAAAAA finals and Evans defeated Grovetown in Region 3-AAAAAAA for the program’s firstever region championship. Stephenson and Mt. Zion earned spots out of Region 4-AAAAAA, Alexander topped South Paulding 36-33 for the Region 5-AAAAAA title and Creekview beat Sequoyah 51-15 for its third-straight Region 6-AAAAAA title. Pope’s 37-31 win over Cambridge gave the Greyhounds this year’s Region 7-AAAAAA championship and Lanier’s 36-30 win over Gainesville gave the Longhorns back-to-back Region 8-AAAAAA championships.

In Class AAAAA, Veterans topped Harris County 41-28 for the Region 1-AAAAA championship and Ware County defeated South Effingham to win its fourth-straight Region 2-AAAAA title. Whitewater defeated Starr’s Mill in Region 3-AAAAA and Ola defeated Union Grove for the Region 4-AAAAA crown. Miller Grove and Southwest DeKalb emerged from the Region 5-AAAAA tournament. Also, Riverwood took the Region 6-AAAAA title, defending state champion Woodland-Cartersville topped Carrollton for the Region 7-AAAAA title and Buford took the Region 8-AAAAA championship over Walnut Grove.

MAKING STATEMENTS Perry made noise with its win over West Laurens for the Region 2-AAAA title. It was the program’s first region title since 1989 and also the Panthers’ first win over the Raiders since 1994. Additionally, Cairo and Columbus emerged from Region 1-AAAA, Baldwin and Burke County earned state berths out of Region 3-AAAA, Woodward Academy clinched Region 4-AAAA with a 56-15 win over Eastside, Central-Carroll clinched Region 5-AAAA with a 60-24 win over Cartersville and Gilmer, Blessed Trinity and North Oconee also won their respective regions.

In Class AAA, top-seed Jefferson, No. 2 seed North Hall, No. 3 seed Jackson County and fourth-seeded Sonoraville will have first-round byes. Jefferson enters the tournament with 18-straight duals state titles and was a 44-18 winner over third-seeded Jackson County in the Area 6-AAA championship. In Class AA, Toombs County clinched Area 1-AAAA with a 46-33 win over Jeff Davis. Screven County fell 39-36 to Harlem in Area 2-AAAA, but the runner-up finish gives the Gamecocks their first duals appearance in 14 years. Lamar County and Dodge County emerged from Area 3-AAAA and Bremen topped Callaway 48-28 in the Area 4-AAAA finals. Chattooga dominated Coosa (72-6), Rockmart (60-9) and Dade County (58-15) on its run to the Area 5-AA title and Social Circle claimed its sixth-straight Area title with a 33-24 win over Elbert County. Class A’s Commerce earned the top seed out of Area 6-AAAA and will have a first-round bye with No. 2 seed Trion, No. 3 seed Mt. Pisgah and No. 4 seed Holy Innocents’. Commerce defeated Athens Christian 68-14 to win Area 6-AAAA before the Eagles’ defeated George Walton 39-33 to finish runner-ups. BY CRAIG SAGER II | SAGERC2@GMAIL .COM DUAL WRESTLING AREA TOURNAMENTS BRING CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD INTO FOCUS

Five-time defending Duals State Champion and three-time defending Class AAAAAAA champion Camden County headlines the field in the state’s highest classification this weekend. The Wildcats were unstoppable during their run to last year’s crown and their 60-6 win over Mountain View in the finals gave them a 238-31 advantage in points over the course of the four rounds of dominant victories. Mountain View faces Cherokee in this year’s first-round and a victory would result in a finals rematch with Camden County in the second round, depending on whether or not the champs get past Parkview in their opener. Brookwood, which finished fourth behind Collins Hill at last year’s tournament scored a 69-12 win over Parkview to earn the Region 7-AAAAAAA Championship this past weekend.

The Valdosta wrestling program won its first-ever state title last year at the duals and then completed the sweep with a traditional title. The Wildcats’ historic pair of wins in Class AAAAAA was the most recent case of an ongoing trend in a classification that has seen four-different programs win duals state titles over the last four seasons. The overall competitiveness of Class AAAAAA is expected once again—as Coffee already proved this past weekend with a victory over the Wildcats in the Region 1-AAAAAA Tournament.

Woodland-Cartersville returns as the defending Class AAAAA champion. The Wildcats defeated Carrollton this past weekend in the Region 7-AAAAA tournament and will take on Miller Grove in the opening round. Last year’s runner-up Buford captured the Region 8-AAAAA title this past weekend. Additionally, Ola and Veterans each won their respective regions after top four finishes a year ago at state. In last year’s championship bracket, Veterans edged Ola 32- 31 in the second-round and dropped into the loser’s bracket. After Veterans’ loss to Woodland sent the Warhawks into the loser’s bracket, they met Ola for a rematch in the third-place match and fell 39-30.

EYE ON THE PRIZE Class AAAA was highly competitive last year with down-to-the-wire finishes unfolding throughout the action. Gilmer needed a 32-28 win over Central-Carroll to advance to the finals where they were topped by Woodward Academy 37-33. West Laurens edged Blessed Trinity 42-40 before falling to Woodward Academy in the semis. Once in the loser’s bracket, Central-Carroll scored a 38-33 win over Blessed Trinity and then clinched a third-place finish with a 37-35 thriller over West Laurens. Not only will all these programs be back this year, but Perry is bringing in a lot of momentum after topping West Laurens in the Region 2-AAAA tournament for its first region crown since 1989. Reigning Class AAA champion Jefferson has won 18-straight Duals State Championships entering this weekend, which is the highest possible total that a program could have won since the introduction of the Duals State Championships 2002. North Hall nearly snapped this historic streak last year, but was topped 30-29 in the finals. Jefferson, North Hall, Jackson County and Sonoraville will have first round byes this weekend as Class AAA’s top 4 seeds.

Social Circle will be going for a sixth-straight Class AA Duals State Championship this weekend. The Redskins scored a 33-24 win over Elbert County this past weekend in the Area 6-AAAA championship to earn the No. 1 overall seed. The win over Elbert County was a rematch of Social Circle’s 42-26 championship-clinching victory at last year’s state duals. Elbert County enters this year’s tournament as the No. 3 seed and Chattooga will be the No. 2 overall seed after failing to qualify for state this past year. Chattooga earned its No. 2 seed with a top finish out of Area 5-AA that included major victories over Coosa (72-6), Rockmart (60- 9) and No. 5 seed Dade County (58-15). The top seed in Class A is held by six-time defending Duals State Champion Commerce. The Tigers overwhelmed the competition during last year’s championship run—defeating Mt. Zion (72-6), Turner County (65-12) and Trion (56-15) in the finals. BY CRAIG SAGER II | SAGERC2@GMAIL .COM HISTORIC STREAKS WILL BE CHALLENGED THIS WEEKEND IN MACON